Customer or Citizen Experience: Helping is the new selling

What makes customers choose the same product or service over and over?
‘’Customer or Citizen Experience’’ is one of the categories at the Danish Digital Award. MARKETcommunity has asked Line Kierulf Dahl from McDonalds Denmark, who is chairman of the particular jury, how she describes great customer or citizen experience and how these experiences can affect a brand’s future.

By:
Line Kierulf Dahl

Published: 20-02-2015

Helping and selling are only two letters apartIn the age of information overload, companies are struggling more than ever to cut through the clutter. Today companies are not only competing for the attention of their current customer base, but also competing against their customers’ closest friends, relatives and family members. Heck, they are even competing against the latest viral videos and ‘LOLcats’. To win in this hyper-competitive environment, helping is the new selling.

As the clever author, marketing consultant and speaker Jay Baer has written: "the difference between helping and selling is just two letters." But those two letters are critically important for the success of any business today. So instead of focusing only on selling, ask yourself this question: “How can we help our customers or potential customers?” Great customer experience is all about helping your customers or citizens in a useful way — When they require that help.

Great customer experienceIt’s important to create great experiences for your customers these days, where we rarely see the face of the actual company anymore, because they are almost only present online. Today’s consumers expect top of the line customer service and personalized experiences more than ever, and they expect it at their request. According to a survey from the customer experience management firm, SDL, more than 3000 global shoppers stated that they prefer a positive customer experience from their retailers more than anything else.